SuperBig hit's US soil

[Artful]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-superbug-that-doctors-have-been-dreading-just-reached-the-us/ar-BBtwrwg?li=BBnb4R7



For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying a bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could mean "the end of the road" for antibiotics.

The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Department of Defense researchers determined that carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday (http://aac.asm.org/content/early/2016/05/25/AAC.01103-16.full.pdf+html) in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery "heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria."

Colistin is the antibiotic of last resort for particularly dangerous types of superbugs, including a family of bacteria known as CRE, which health officials have dubbed "nightmare bacteria." In some instances, these superbugs kill up to 50 percent of patients who become infected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called CRE among the country's most urgent public health threats.

It's the first time this colistin-resistant strain has been found in a person in the United States. Last November, public health officials around the globe reacted with alarm when Chinese and British researchers reported finding the colistin-resistant strain in pigs, raw pork meat and in a small number of people in China. The deadly strain was later discovered in Europe and elsewhere.

“It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics -- that we may be in a situation where we have patients in our intensive-care units, or patients getting urinary tract infections for which we do not have antibiotics,” CDC Director Tom Frieden in an interview Thursday.

“I’ve been there for TB patients. I’ve cared for patients for whom there are no drugs left. It is a feeling of such horror and helplessness,” Frieden added. “This is not where we need to be.”

CDC officials are working with Pennsylvania health authorities to interview the patient and family to identify how she may have contracted the bacteria, including reviewing recent hospitalizations and other healthcare exposures. CDC hopes to screen the patient and other contacts to see if others might be carrying the organism. Local and state health departments will also be collecting cultures as part of the investigation.

Scientists and public health officials have long warned that if the resistant bacteria continue to spread, it could seriously limit available treatment options. Routine operations could become deadly. Minor infections could become life-threatening crises. Pneumonia could be more and more difficult to treat.

Already, doctors had been forced to rely on colistin as a last-line defense against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The drug is hardly ideal. It is more than half a century old and can cause serious damage to a patient’s kidneys. And yet, because doctors have run out of weapons to fight a growing number of infections that evade more modern antibiotics, it has become a critical tool in fighting off some of the most tenacious infections.

Bacteria develop antibiotic resistance in two ways. Many acquire mutations in their own genomes that allow them to withstand antibiotics, although that ability can't be shared with pathogens outside their own family.

Other bacteria rely on a shortcut: they get infected with something called a plasmid, a small piece of DNA, carrying a gene for antibiotic resistance. That makes resistance genes more dangerous because plasmids can make copies of themselves and transfer the genes they carry to other bugs within the same family as well as jump to other families of bacteria, which can then "catch" the resistance directly without having to develop it through evolution.

The colistin-resistant E. coli found in the Pennsylvania woman has this type of resistance gene.


Be aware of you sanitation habits - it's becoming a more dangerous world.

[runfiverun]

isn't this how the Zombie invasion starts..

[shooter93]

It may end up being a serious problem as the last and only lab developing new antibiotics for fighting the new viruses etc. has been closed.

[Mk42gunner]

So if antibiotics aren't going to work in "the future", which sounds a long ways off, will we be able to go back to using pipsqueak rounds for self defense?

This article, and the other one I read that was on the same subject, make it sound like all antibiotics have already stopped working on every type of infection. Seems like a lot of doom and gloom to me.

Robert

[Houndog]

Thanks odumbo!! unchecked illeagals entering the country are more than likely carrying this and the drug resistant strain of TB that's turned up in Memphis TN.

[sparky45]

This particular "bug" is resistant to ALL ANTIBIOTICS. Antibiotics work on other pathogens (not as well as they used to) so just pray you don't contract the really bad one. ​I'm sure when it's all disclosed as to the origin of the "bug" it will be proven to have been developed by the CIA and used to kill off other 3rd world inhabitants.

[montana_charlie]

Be aware of you sanitation habits - it's becoming a more dangerous world.
That advice prompts me to wonder about something.

If 'the bug' infecting a surface that you just touched is actually the 'super bug', antibiotics won't kill it.
It is probably true that your nearby squirt bottle of 'hand sanitizer' is also ineffectve.

As a matter offact, it may be those who have been most careful ... and have never managed to come into contact with 'any bug' ... who are among the 50% who typically don't survive the infection.

People who live and work 'down in the dirt', who simply don't have time to 'sanitize' every fifteen minutes, could be those with the immune system that keeps them alive.

[JWFilips]

Comes down to "Pork" Maybe the Jews knew something about our future! Pretty scary!
"Swine is fine until it's time" :shock:

[Hickory]

Unintended consequences from Obama imports?

[Artful]

Unintended consequences from Obama imports?

Or intentional

[dtknowles]

That advice prompts me to wonder about something.

If 'the bug' infecting a surface that you just touched is actually the 'super bug', antibiotics won't kill it.
It is probably true that your nearby squirt bottle of 'hand sanitizer' is also ineffectve.

As a matter offact, it may be those who have been most careful ... and have never managed to come into contact with 'any bug' ... who are among the 50% who typically don't survive the infection.

People who live and work 'down in the dirt', who simply don't have time to 'sanitize' every fifteen minutes, could be those with the immune system that keeps them alive.

Soap and water is good enough to prevent ingesting bacteria, you just wash them down the drain. Other antibacterial agents will kill them if you have a place you are concerned they might be growing.

I recommend against thinking you might be able to or already have an immunity to E Coli

Radiation, Alcohol, Iodine, will kill all bacteria.

Antibiotics are meant to treat people who are already infected, you can't kill bacteria in your body with Radiation, Alcohol or Iodine, they are to kill bacteria before it gets inside.

Tim

[OBIII]

I just thought it was funny that the SuperBug hit us at the same time. :)
OB

[tdoyka]

isn't this how the Zombie invasion starts..

i think its time to start N.A.D.S., this way we will all be politically correct.:kidding:

https://youtu.be/qpKmmkT1kAk
NADS! Stop The Hate! (repost) - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpKmmkT1kAk)https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qpKmmkT1kAk/hqdefault.jpg?custom=true&w=196&h=110&stc=true&jpg444=true&jpgq=90&sp=68&sigh=O_7hqHSX3O5wCMkY-NU5CW4w_Vo

[Col4570]

Globalisation has a lot to answer for.The easy movement of peoples through out the world has reintroduced diseases where they had previously been eradicated.Illegal immigrants finding their ways into their destinations could be and often do carry dangerous viruses.

[JSnover]

Antibiotic-resistant is not the same as invincible. Bleach and alcohol as well as most soaps are effective sanitizers. They won't cure an infection but they will help control or avoid an outbreak.
I'd feel better about this one if they'd at least tell us which county the woman lives in.

[claude]

Is this related to the useless drivel thread?

[JSnover]

Is this related to the useless drivel thread?
This one's way better. We got zombies, super-bacteria, conspiracy theories, what more could you want?

[claude]

This one's way better. We got zombies, super-bacteria, conspiracy theories, what more could you want?

The new soap opera.........where's Luke and Laura?

[runfiverun]

umm JR. shot them?
I should know better than to ask,,,, but who is Luke and Laura?

[claude]

Soap opera stars from "days of our lives" 1980 ish

[Artful]

umm
I should know better than to ask,,,, but who is Luke and Laura?

OMG, they ruled daytime soaps for awhile at least -
1981 - they televised the marriage of the characters - and stuff around the country just "STOPPED"
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150624160257-general-hospital-super-169.jpg

was as bad as that stupid OJ slow speed chase.

[runfiverun]

okay TV stuff,,,,, that'd splain why I had no clue.
I'm not too up on pop culture, it's hard to keep up when you don't even have cell phone service in the places where I spend most of my time.

[JSnover]

OMG, they ruled daytime soaps for awhile at least -
1981 - they televised the marriage of the characters - and stuff around the country just "STOPPED"

was as bad as that stupid OJ slow speed chase.
A woman in my payroll office says their characters are still alive on that stupid show.

[dragon813gt]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling......

Okay, I feel better now. I will deal w/ it as it happens. Can't do anything else. I'm still reeling from Ebola not wiping out most of the world population so it got down to Agenda 21 numbers. Maybe this superbug has been developed by the NWO to achieve their goal.......

[Elkins45]

These suberbugs were developed by us because we allowed people to sell livestock feed with low doses of antibiotics in them for years and years. Heck, we may still be doing it for all I know. We killed off all of the weak ones and unintentionally selected for the ones with higher levels of antibiotic resistance. Now evolution is coming back to bite us on our behinds.

Everytime someone washes their hands with antibacterial soap and it runs into the wastewater system it increases the chances of breeding more resistant strains of diseases.

Well, we had a good 60 year run of being relatively safe from bacterial diseases. Glad I was born at just the right time to enjoy it.

[GaryN]

Ummm, all soap is antibacterial. I don't think soap does anything but remove dirt and kill bacteria.

[jonp]

Let me guess, The CDC wants billions or we are all going to die and we will find out that she is an illegal alien, "refugee" or has had intimate contact with such.

[Freightman]

WOO is me! Woo is me! Hate to say this but humans have been one bug from extinction since the garden.

[sparky45]

That advice prompts me to wonder about something.

If 'the bug' infecting a surface that you just touched is actually the 'super bug', antibiotics won't kill it.
It is probably true that your nearby squirt bottle of 'hand sanitizer' is also ineffectve.

As a matter offact, it may be those who have been most careful ... and have never managed to come into contact with 'any bug' ... who are among the 50% who typically don't survive the infection.

People who live and work 'down in the dirt', who simply don't have time to 'sanitize' every fifteen minutes, could be those with the immune system that keeps them alive.

I believe that's a proven fact.

[sparky45]

Let me guess, The CDC wants billions or we are all going to die and we will find out that she is an illegal alien, "refugee" or has had intimate contact with such.

With Illegal invaders coming into this country, this is one of MANY disease causing bacteria/virus's that will harm the USA. This can be placed at O's door.

[sparky45]

These suberbugs were developed by us because we allowed people to sell livestock feed with low doses of antibiotics in them for years and years. Heck, we may still be doing it for all I know. We killed off all of the weak ones and unintentionally selected for the ones with higher levels of antibiotic resistance. Now evolution is coming back to bite us on our behinds.

Everytime someone washes their hands with antibacterial soap and it runs into the wastewater system it increases the chances of breeding more resistant strains of diseases.

Well, we had a good 60 year run of being relatively safe from bacterial diseases. Glad I was born at just the right time to enjoy it.

If you care to get to the basis of the problem, go to the AMA, which encouraged it's members to "wholesale" the use of antibiotics for the common cold, still goes on today. Antibiotics are a more dangerous group of medications than are narcotics.

[sparky45]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling......

Okay, I feel better now. I will deal w/ it as it happens. Can't do anything else. I'm still reeling from Ebola not wiping out most of the world population so it got down to Agenda 21 numbers. Maybe this superbug has been developed by the NWO to achieve their goal.......

If I were you, I'd be a little bit more concerned. After all, it's definitely in your part of the country. Your last sentence should have been in​ this color.

[big bore 99]

From what I understand, all soap contains some form of lye which is fatal to bacteria. Bacteria dosen't actually evolve, but through a process of mutation aquires a resistance to an antibiotic. Maybe one in a zillion new bacteria is 'born' with certain mutant resistance to the antibiotic. When it meets up and breeds with another of the same mutant bacteria, they create a new resistant strain. Meanwhile all the others who are not resistant, die off. We continue to try and find a new antibiotic to kill off the new 'mutants', another mutation is on it's way. Through a mind-boggling process our own bodies are developing an immunity to fight off the new mutations. It's all a process of checks and balances. That's my understanding anyway...

[JSnover]

Soap works. So does public sanitation and municipal water treatment.
I've been in countries where they don't have or use any of the above and you won't convince me that regular bathing/washing and underground sewers are a mistake.

[knewmans]

Bacteria dosen't actually evolve, but through a process of mutation aquires a resistance to an antibiotic.

That pretty much sums up evolution

[sparky45]

That pretty much sums up evolution

Ding! Ding! Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner.

[MtGun44]

Anyone interested in a real world solution to replace antibiotics, although
not as simple and quick or universal as penicillin used to be, check out
bacteriophages.

I used to manage a research project which had multiple labs participating, one
of them was the Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology in
Tbilisi, Georgia. Bacteriophages are viruses which ONLY attack bacteria and there
a billions of different kinds. They are very effective against bacterial infection, but they
take a bit of time to sort out, culture and create large quantities for inoculation to
kill specific bacteria. Not as simple and convenient as a broad spectrum antibiotic
used to be (and generally still is). Eliava is the world leader on phage technology,
and unfortunately, few US universities or companies are paying any attention.

This is a proven, old technology, but was abandoned as inconvenient when penicillin
came along. We may well be going back to this, as it will not become ineffective as
time goes on.

Seriously, if a loved one were dying of an untreatable bacterial infection, I would
get them to Tbilisi, ASAP.

https://www.phagetherapycenter.com/pii/PatientServlet?command=static_home

I know these folks and they are top scientists, although living and pretty much
trapped in a small, backwater country.

Bill

[Elkins45]

From what I understand, all soap contains some form of lye which is fatal to bacteria. Bacteria dosen't actually evolve, but through a process of mutation aquires a resistance to an antibiotic. Maybe one in a zillion new bacteria is 'born' with certain mutant resistance to the antibiotic. When it meets up and breeds with another of the same mutant bacteria, they create a new resistant strain. Meanwhile all the others who are not resistant, die off. We continue to try and find a new antibiotic to kill off the new 'mutants', another mutation is on it's way. Through a mind-boggling process our own bodies are developing an immunity to fight off the new mutations. It's all a process of checks and balances. That's my understanding anyway...

Soap is MADE with lye, it doesn't usually contain it unless they messed up the formula. The lye converts fats to soap in a process called saponification and is broken down in the process. The pH of soap is pretty close to neutral. Washing with soap works because the soap breaks the surface tension of the water and allows the bacteria and dirt to be mechanically removed. Regular soap doesn't actually kill bacteria. Antibiotic soaps contain added chemicals like triclocarban that do kill the weak bacteria but not the strong ones...and that's the problem.

Others have said it already, but the mutation process you described IS evolution.

[GaryN]

Elkins45, Thanks for the explanation. I didn't understand the way soap really works. I just thought the anti-bacterial soaps were a marketing gimmick.

[JSnover]

Anyone interested in a real world solution to replace antibiotics, although
not as simple and quick or universal as penicillin used to be, check out
bacteriophages.

https://www.phagetherapycenter.com/pii/PatientServlet?command=static_home

I know these folks and they are top scientists, although living and pretty much
trapped in a small, backwater country.

Bill
Thanks! I first heard of this back in the 90s and I'm pretty sure the Russians had been issuing phages to their troops for a few decades by then.

[Artful]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/superbug-coli-found-time-us/story?id=40488140



Superbug E. Coli Found for Just Second Time in US

For just the second time in the U.S., researchers have found evidence of E. coli bacteria that are genetically resistant to a last-resort antibiotic, according to a report published today in the medical journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The superbug (http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/infectious-diseases.htm) has a gene that makes it resistant to treatment with colistin, an antibiotic often used by doctors as a last resort for antibiotic-resistant infections, the report states.

In this case, the bacteria were genetically resistant to colistin but not to other forms of antibiotics that could be used to kill the E. coli. However, researchers are concerned that these bacteria could transfer genes to other E. coli and different bacteria that are already resistant to all forms of antibiotics except colistin, leading to the chance of a fully antibiotic-resistant strain of bacterium. Researchers are especially concerned about the possibility that the gene could be transferred within the Enterobacteriaceae family of bacteria, which includes E. coli. Some strains in that family are already largely resistant to many kind of antibiotics in the U.S.

Researchers found the strain by testing 13,562 E. coli strains collected at hospitals across the globe. They found 19 strains had the gene mcr-1, which makes E.coli (http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/food-poisoning.htm) resistant to colistin. In one case, that strain was found in the U.S.

Researchers said the global findings are alarming because it means there may be an increasing likelihood of having outbreaks of E. coli bacteria that are totally resistant to antibiotics.

"The fact that the gene has been detected in food livestock and raw meat is also concerning," said report co-author Mariana Castanheira, the director of micro- and molecular biology at JMI Laboratories.

Don't Eat Raw Cookie Dough, FDA Warns After E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Flour (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/eat-raw-cookie-dough-fda-warns-coli-outbreak/story?id=40246815)
Boy Develops Potentially Deadly Food Allergies After Blood Transfusion (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/boy-develops-potentially-deadly-food-allergies-blood-transfusion/story?id=30140702)
Wife Refuses to Give Up on Husband in Coma After Crash - Then He Wakes Up (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wife-refuses-give-husband-coma-crash-wakes/story?id=30121297)

Dr. Frank Esper, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, said the report was alarming but not surprising for infectious disease experts.

"It's basically a wake-up call," he told ABC News. "It's only going to be a matter of time where the perfect storm happens ... Next thing you know, you throw your hands up and say we're out of ammunition" to fight certain infections.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said health experts have been worried for years that there will be a rise in completely drug-resistant bacteria, especially since there have been few antibiotic breakthroughs in recent years.

He said there are several things that need to happen to minimize the chance of creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"[No. 1], we prescribe antibiotics much more prudentially ... No. 2, we have to stop using antibiotics as freely as we do in our food industry," said Schaffner. "No. 3, we need to energize and create environments so pharmaceutical companies will once again start" developing antibiotics.

He said many pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to find and test new antibiotics, since they are usually used sparingly for a limited time and because the bacteria immediately start to become resistant to them, making them more likely to be rendered useless.

But Schaffner emphasized that more needs to be done to develop new antibiotics because there could be a spike of antibiotic-resistant bacteria outbreaks in the coming years.

"Developing new antibiotics is a long-term commitment, and we think in terms of five to 10 years," he said. "As that Chinese proverb states, the longest journey begins with first steps. We ought to make those steps now, because we're going to need those new antibiotics years from now."